Second Life Education Research

Yes, the blog title is extreme, but it got your attention.

As if we needed another excuse to be sure that teachers get adequate training in the use of computers in the classroom, here is a case that should influence us all. Here’s the story in a nutshell:

“On October, 19, 2004, Amero was a substitute teacher for a seventh-grade language class at Kelly Middle School. A few students were crowded around a PC; some were giggling. She investigated and saw the kids looking at a barrage of graphic, hard-core pornographic pop-ups. ” From PC World

Today, the author of the PC World article, Steve Bass, was contacted by one of the juror’s on the case. The juror explained why, even though Amero was a substitute in a foreign class, was held responsible for the pornography the seventh graders saw. The juror says:

“If a 40 year old school teacher does not have the sense to turn off or is not smart enough to figure it out, would you or any other person wanting her teaching your child or grandchild?”

So it goes beyond just being unprepared to teach students how to best use computers, or to know enough to be able to trouble shoot the machines in your classroom, or even enough to stop kids from getting into trouble. Now, the stakes are higher. Apparently, at least in Conneticut, it’s a criminal offense for a teacher to not know enough about the technology in the room.

Food for thought, don’t you think?

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 15th, 2007 at 2:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.